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Erwin Josef II
| father = Ludwig | actor = Emori Hiroko }} Erwin Josef von Goldenbaum II (Japanese: エルウィン・ヨーゼフ・フォン・ゴールデンバウム2世) was the 37th and penultimate kaiser of the Goldenbaum Dynasty. He ruled over the Galactic Empire in name only for nearly two years. Early life Erwin Josef was born in early , the son of Crown Prince Ludwig — and therefore a direct successor to the Imperial throne. Ludwig died some time between his son's conception and mid- , leaving him with no influential parentage. ( ) Rise to throne and reign as kaiser Friedrich IV, the reigning kaiser, died of a heart attack in , having left no stated heir. This produced the possibility of a bloody power struggle amongst the various factions vying for power at the time. Specifically, Duke Otho von Braunschweig, husband of Princess Amarie, supported his child, the 16-year-old Elisabeth; and Marquis Wilhelm von Littenheim, husband of Princess Christine, supported his own child, the 14-year-old Sabine. Erwin Josef's much younger age might otherwise have made him an unsuitable successor given the more mature alternatives. However, his lack of strong parental support made him far more easily controllable, which appealed to both Reinhard von Lohengramm and Minister of State Klaus von Lichtenlade. The political alliance formed between these two ultimately led to the ascension of Erwin Josef II to the throne. ( ) Civil war This was an unwelcome turn of events for Braunschweig and Littenheim, and the two vowed secretly to eliminate the Kaiser. News of this new alliance spread quickly throughout the nobility, with most of the high nobles ultimately siding with the Braunschweig/Littenheim faction. The resulting coalition became known as the Lippstadt League. Although Marquis Lohengramm and his subordinates were able to detain many of the Lippstadt nobles before full-scale combat broke out, most of them — including Braunschweig and Littenheim — escaped to Geiersburg Fortress, which became their primary base of operations during the ensuing civil war. In response to these events, Erwin Josef conferred to Marquis Lohengramm the title of Imperial Fleet High Commander and ordered him to subjugate the Lippstadt forces. Civil war officially broke out on 6 April . ( ) The war proceeded largely without the Kaiser's direct participation. Approximately 7 months after the war began, Marquis Littenheim, who had sacrificed some of his men to secure his own escape from the forces of Siegfried Kircheis, was killed in a suicide-bombing by a resentful subordinate. Duke Braunschweig died shortly thereafter, having been force-fed poison by Commodore Ansbach. Geiersburg was quickly taken by Lohengramm's forces, and the war officially ended in September . ( ) Upon the end of the war, Duke Lichtenlade began making plans to eliminate Lohengramm and his supporters and seize the Imperial government for himself. These plans became known to Reinhard, and a contingent was sent back to Odin, where Lichtenlade and his family were arrested. Following this, Erwin Josef declared Reinhard as Imperial Prime Minister — effectively eliminating the Kaiser's own influence over the government. ( ) Abduction and the 'legitimate' Imperial government When Kaiser Erwin Josef II was seven years old, the Dominion of Fezzan hatched a plot to kidnap Erwin Josef II. They financed ex-members of the Lippstadt League, and sent them to the Imperial capital, Odin, on a mission to free Erwin Josef II from his supposed captors. At the same time, Fezzan secretly alerted Reinhard von Lohengramm to the kidnapping plot, who decided to allow the abduction to take place. With Erwin Josef II spirited to the Alliance, the high nobles soon set up a government-in-exile, with the Kaiser as their head. As a result, on 20 September , the abdication of Kaiser Erwin Josef II was announced in the Empire, he was succeeded in absentia by the eight-month old Katharin Kätchen. Appendices Appearances * ** (first appearance) ** ** ** (flashback) ** (memory) ** ** ** ** Erwinjosef 2 Erwinjosef 2